The great part about eBooks is that an author doesn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to promote their work. There are several proven free and no-cost tips authors can use towards promoting their eBooks and getting sales from customers. These approaches include:
Always offering free eBooks throughout the year. A self-published author should always offer a free eBook throughout the year. Free eBooks allow new readers an opportunity to sample an authors’ work and gives them a reason to try other titles in the authors catalog. A variety of free titles during busy periods like summer and the holidays can often lead to sales of other titles in the future.
Some authors have found success by offering one book for free in a series and then charging for subsequent volumes. Others have found success by splitting longer novels into smaller volumes and offering the first few chapters for free. When the customer is hooked, they pay to read the other parts of the novel.
Offering more than one title. An author who is self-publishing eBooks should always have more than one title in their catalog. After trying one title, some readers will want more. Give them a reason to come back for more!
Offering titles at 99 cents. Authors can make their eBook prices anything they want. However, most self-published authors should set their price at 99 cents. While this price seems low, it’s a price where to most consumers feel comfortable enough incentive to take a risk and try an unproven authors’ work. At this price an author can build a word-of-mouth among readers. It’s usually those referrals that will get more readers to buy an author’s books on a regular basis.
Tie two books together. One of the most successful strategies I’ve had in selling eBooks is to serialize them. Readers who enjoyed the first book will probably take a chance on the second book in a series.
And serializing doesn’t have to be direct. An author can feature supporting characters from one story as main characters in another. Or lightly reference events from one story in another. Readers who loved the first story will definitely give that new title a try.
Smart authors aggressively utilize social media in promoting self-published eBooks. eBooks spread their word of mouth in cyberspace. And the way people know about new eBooks is through posting links on social media such as Twitter, Facebook YouTube, and Pinterest. A smart author self-publishing eBooks aggressively promotes their titles on all these social media forums every day.
The best time to promote an eBook on social media during the day is from 11AM-2PM when most people are at lunch. Most people visit social media websites during these breaks. At night an author can find a much larger audience of people on social media online from and 8-11PM Monday through Thursday and 10-11 PM on Fridays-Sundays.
The day after Christmas is the biggest day of the year when it comes to eBook sales. When an eBook self-publisher is planning their promotions they take a heavy focus on one date: December 26. Why? On Christmas day many people give Kindles, Nooks, Kobos ipods and ipads and other e-reading devices as Christmas gifts. Moreover, many people give gift cards to people who already own these devices so they can fill their e-readers with new titles, songs and TV shows.
From December 26 to Mid March is one of the biggest periods in the eBook market. It’s the perfect time for a self-published author to launch a new title or promote existing ones. With millions of people around the world looking to try out eBooks on their new devices it’s a great opportunity for an author to find an audience of readers for their titles.
The second biggest period for eBook sales is the summer. From late May to Early September is the summer reading season. It’s the second biggest sales period for eBooks. During this period lots of people go on vacation and are looking for beach books for their eReaders. It’s a great time for a self-published author to launch a mystery or a romance novel.
In addition, School is out and lots of kids are looking for titles to read to prepare for the next grade. So it’s a great time for an author to launch a Young adult novel (teenagers) Independent reader (ages 7-14) book or genre fiction like sci-fi or fantasy.
Leave the DRM (Digital Rights Management) off an eBook DRM is a software encryption that prevents readers from taking an eBook from one device to another. Some authors authorize this encryption to prevent people from pirating their eBooks and sharing them on a filesharing site.
Customers hate this software because it ties their eBooks to a single device. Many a sale has been lost of an eBook because a title has DRM attached to it. If an author is self-publishing eBooks they must understand that encoding an eBook with DRM could prevent them from reaching new readers who will refuse to buy the titles because they feature DRM encryption.
Most eBook readers want to be able to take their eBooks from device to device like from their laptop to e-reader to their cell phones. Moreover, they also want to share their eBooks with other readers. This sharing is how an author builds the word of mouth that allows them to build a larger audience.
In self-publishing eBooks and author doesn’t have to worry about piracy. Most customers would rather pay to own a legit copy of an eBook they got from a retailer like Amazon or itunes than a copy they got from Bittorrent or a filesharing site where they could get an eBook that may be a corrupted file that’s unreadable, or worse a file infected with a virus or malware.
In the changing publishing world, a savvy author can access the retail market by self-publishing eBooks. With a little hard work and some online marketing through social media author can establish a platform where they can build an audience that anticipates their next title.
If you liked this article and want to support me in selling my eBooks my work can be found on:
If you liked this article and want to support me in selling my eBooks my work can be found on:
Amazon Kindle (numerous titles are Kindle exclusive!)
Splendid blog, Shawn. This is as, and even more helpful than I have read in books written to help e-books. Use these tips, e-book writers, and reap good rewards.
ReplyDeleteYou are one helpful soul, an I, for one, thank you.